The final game of the season for the U15Bs produced a Christmas cracker on Saturday. To stretch the metaphor: by a whisker, Oundle came away with the half containing the party hat, toy and joke, while Radley left with a crimped bit of shiny paper, and that floppy piece of stick that goes 'bang'. But it was a damned close run thing.

Indeed, Stan-ta Claus's festive sack was bulging with points, 78 of them in all, to warm the cockles' of spectators' hearts on a chilly afternoon as effectively as any cup of mulled wine or chestnuts roasted on an open fire.

Alex 'Dasher' Kapadia opened the scoring for Oundle in the second minute, outpacing the Radley cover defence. However the visitors' mauling game, to which the Oundelians were unused, paid dividends and Radley scored two of their own in reply. Replacing the injured Ben Clayden, Omar 'Dancer' Siddiqy jinked over mid-way through the half to level the scores. However the rest of the first half belonged to Radley whose greater desire at the breakdown and hard running earned them two more tries, leaving the half-time score 12-22.

With the prospect of being put on the 'naughty' list imminent, Oundle began the second half a team transformed. Tanveer 'Cupid' Sira crashed over from short range to reduce the arrears before Peter 'Blitzen' Afolabi powered through the home defence, levelling the scores.

With 20 minutes remaining a Radley player suffered an injury, and the match was paused while he was given treatment, during which the C team finished on the adjacent pitch so the game was moved there. Pastures new clearly suited Oundle as, moments after the resumption Art 'Comet' Ostin burrowed over the line at the base of a ruck, then outsprinted the cover from halfway to make the scores 34-22.

With 10 minutes remaining, stand-in fly-half Tom 'Prancer' Aubury scored the try of the game, accelerating through the smallest of midfield gaps like a young Jeremy Guscott and gliding to the line from 40 metres out to deliver the coup de grace.

However, Oundle were guilty of complacency as Radley came back at them time and again, like Christmas ghosts to Ebeneezer Scrooge. Three times in the final ten minutes they breached the home side's defence, making the full-time score 41-37. With the ground freezing beneath players' feet, the full time whistle was welcomed more than a mince pie and glass of sherry after Midnight Mass.